Research Awards
Archaeologists celebrate double awards
Archaeology Festival 2010
Bristol archaeologists have been honoured by two awards at the prestigious Archaeology 2010 Festival held at the British Museum in late February. The award for research project of the year went to the Blue Stonehenge excavations of the Stonehenge Riverside project. This multi-university project is co-directed by Dr Josh Pollard, of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology. Fieldwork during the summer of 2009 revealed a newly discovered stone circle at the end of the Stonehenge Avenue in Wiltshire. Originally comprising a setting of 20 Welsh bluestones created about 3000 BC, this is a major discovery. Dr Pollard commented “it is believed that the stones were later incorporated into Stonehenge, and forces us to reconsider the whole history of the monument and its wider landscape’. The results of this excavation confirm the hypothesis that Stonehenge was part of an integrated complex of monuments linked by the River Avon that were constructed to celebrate the ancestral dead of an important Stone Age lineage.
The second award went to Chantel Summerfield, a student on the MA in Conflict Archaeology at the University of Bristol, for an outstanding contribution to the presentation of Heritage Research. Co-sponsored by English Heritage and the heritage services of Britain and Ireland, Chantel won the award for a contribution by a scholar under the age of 30. Her study involved innovative digital recording of military arborglyphs on Salisbury Plain. These were carved on trees by American servicemen during the Second World War, and she has been able to reconstruct the personal stories of these servicemen and their fate during the war. The carvings provide poignant insights into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of soldiers training for war.
The research director of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Alexander Bird commented, ‘The presentation of these awards to both academics and students within the University demonstrates our commitment to research excellence in archaeology and its wider public impact’.
Philosophy of Science book award
21 January 2010
Samir Okasha, Professor of Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy, has won the 2009 Lakatos Award for his book, Evolution and the Levels of Selection (Oxford University Press, 2006). This prestigious award, established at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in memory of a former professor, Imre Lakatos (1922-1974), recognises an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science in the form of a book published in English during the previous five years. Professor Okasha will visit the LSE to receive the £10,000 Award and give a public lecture during the summer.
Olympic Visions
20 January 2010
Dr Mike O'Mahony has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Grant to write a book entitled 'Olympic Visions: The Games in Visual Culture'.
Middle English verse forms
27 November 2009
Professor Ad Putter has been awarded £357,430 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a three-year project on the verse forms of Middle English Romance. Part of the project will include the making of recorded readings of these romances in their original text and metre, which will enable modern readers to familiarize themselves with forgotten conventions of rhyme and rhythm.
Old Hispanic chants
15 October 2009
Dr Emma Hornby in the Department of Music has been awarded a Religion and Society Small Research Grant worth £95,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for a one-year project on ‘Compositional planning, musical grammar and theology in Old Hispanic chant’.
The Foundations of Structuralism
9 October 2009
Professor Ladyman has been awarded around £380,000 for a three-year project on The Foundations of Structuralism, which aims to integrate work in philosophical logic, mathematics and physics concerning the nature of objects and individuality.
Thucydides: Reception, reinterpretation and influence
9 October 2009
Professor Neville Morley of the Department of Classics and Ancient History has been awarded around £450,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council for a four-year project on the Greek historian Thucydides (c.460BC – c.395 BC).
Aristotle on Desire
10 September 2009
Dr Giles Pearson in the Department of Philosophy has been awarded £24,000 by the AHRC to complete a book-length study on Aristotle and desire. Driving the project is the belief that Aristotle’s account of desire is extremely important for a number of key topics in his philosophy, and is also of philosophical interest to us now.
Preacher and Ritualist: the role of Theravada Buddhist monks
10 September 2009
Dr Rita Langer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies has been awarded £25,000 by the AHRC for her research into the role of Buddhist monks in funerals and post-funerary rites.
Italian women terrorists
19 August 2009
Dr Ruth Glynn from the Department of Italian has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship of £14,850 and two non-stipendiary fellowships at leading women's studies centres in the USA to work on her research project, 'Women, Terror and Trauma in Italian Culture'.
Ant nest excavation behaviour
July 2009
Dr Kate Robson-Brown from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology has been awarded a Leverhulme Award of £51,618 for a one-year research project on 'Ant nest excavation behaviour: a novel investigation using micro CT technology'.